[Simon & Schuster]

Longlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel and the Carnegie Medal for Excellence | Shortlisted for The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize | Selected as One of Barack Obama’s Favorite Books of the Year!

In this New York Times bestseller and Today show Read with Jenna Book Club Pick, one lapse in judgment lands a young mother in a dystopian government reform program where custody of her child hangs in the balance, in this “surreal” (People), “remarkable” (Vogue), and “infuriatingly timely” (The New York Times Book Review) debut literary fiction novel.

Frida Liu, a hardworking Chinese American mother, is pushed to the edge. She doesn’t live up to the expectations set by her immigrant parents or her wellness-obsessed husband. Only with Harriet—cherubic and beloved—does she find a measure of fulfillment…until she has a very bad day.

In this close-to-future dystopia, the state targets mothers like Frida: mothers who check their phones, let thei